You never know what you have untill you lose it
by Arrin
Summary: Mariel and Dandin wander though Mosflower woods both hiding feelings from each other but what happens when the two are seperated? Authour's note: Third Chapter Just Up! Rated PG just to be on the safe side...
1. Hidden Feelings

Hidden Feelings  
  
  
Dandin woke around dawn one morning. He glanced down at beside him where Mariel lay sleeping; it was winter so the two had curled up together by the fire to stay warm during the night. It was, of course, still cold out, and Mariel was clinging to him in her sleep, determined to stay warm. Dandin smiled slightly and watched his friend sleep peacefully. He shakes his head is if snapping out of a trance, making a mental note to stop feeling so giddy around her. Ever so gently, he shifts the sleeping mouse maid off him in order to be able to remake the fire and to go look for food. He rises and feeds the fire before going out to forage, with one last look over his shoulder, he heads of into the brush.  
  
Mariel woke to a blast of cold wind, She immediately tried to snuggle closer to Dandin, only to find him gone and a pair of paw prints heading away from the small camp. She shivered and sat closer to the fire warming up as she blew on her numb paws to warm them up. She cursed her light clothes which have become shabby, worn and torn throughout the seasons they where traveling. She shivered once again and pulled her tattered cloak tighter around her body. Her eyes began to droop and her chin dropped to her chest as she dozed off. Footsteps sounded from behind her, jerking her back to reality. She turned around only to see Dandin behind her, he puts a paw on her shoulder. "Hey you alright? You don't look so good" Mariel shook her head "I don't feel well either..." almost as if to prove her point, she doubled over in a bombardment of coughing, holding her stomach"  
  
"Come on" Dandin knelt down beside her , helping her stay upright "you need to rest, get your strength back up..." Mariel simply nodded and leaned against him, Dandin handed her the little bit of roots and tubers he'd dug up "here...eat up..." Mariel looked up at him "But-" Dandin cut her off "I had about the same as I was searching..." Mariel nodded once again as she nibbled on the meager portions while Dandin sat beside her with an arm around her for warmth. Her sickness did not stop her mind from wandering "God..." she thought to herself "why does he have to smell so good?" His heavy sent reminded her of fresh baked bread, an tempting reminder of something soft, warm and good, she quickly put aside the thought, and shook her head slowly, letting her eyelids droop once more. The last thing she remembered before sleep overcome her, is the feel of Dandin's paw rubbing her back.   
  
**************  
  
Mariel woke to the usual coldness, she opened her eyes and looked around the camp to find Dandin by the fire, making a meager broth from the things he had found while searching for food that day. Mariel raised an eyebrow, sitting up. Dandin turned around at the sound of movement, he smiled "Hey sleepy-head" Mariel groaned "How long have I been out for?" Dandin Shrugged "Quite a while, a week really...you woke up a couple times, but not fully, just enough for me to get some food into you. To tell you the truth, it was getting quite lonely without you threatening me every ten minutes or so..." Mariel scoffed "yeah right..."  
"It's true!"   
"...and how should I know you're not lying?" Dandin glared at her "is this the thanks I get for carrying you around from place to place for a week?" Mariel stared, dumbfounded "What?"  
"You heard what I said" Dandin replied somewhat coldly as he turned back to what he was doing. Mariel's mouth, fell agape as she watched him prepare the meal.   
  
The two mice ate in silence, both lost in their own dark thoughts about the other. After finishing, Dandin rose silently, he packed up his stuff and quietly left the camp without a word, leaving Mariel watching his retreat, tears in her eyes. She slowly finished her meal and packed up what was left of camp and trudged onward, slowly following Dandin's tracks. As she strode onward, she found it harder and harder to find Dandin's tracks in the snow. Mariel continued to plod along in roughly the same direction she saw him go, She looked around her, she couldn't decide what surprised her more, that she was standing in the middle of the frozen over river, or the fact that the ice had suddenly fallen out from under her The current of the river carried the mouse maid's body swiftly down stream where the river became more wild and ice didn't have a chance to form. Mariel's body was flung against a rock where the last of her conciseness was beat out of her.  
  
**************  



	2. Searching

Searching  
  
Dandin woke in a cold sweat, something was wrong, he just knew it. He instinctively searched around for Mariel, not seeing her, he immediately started to worry, what if   
she was injured? Or even worse, killed...he let out a soft sight, dreading the thought about life without her. That day, he did not move camp, allowing Mariel some sort of chance to find him "just in case" he thought to himself "there's no sense in leaving her somewhere alone…" he sighed once again and leaned back against the trunk of a tree, his eyes half closed, waiting as if expecting her to walk into the camp any moment, waiting, for a chance to hug her and tell her how worried he'd been. Waiting, for a chance to finally tell her just how much he cared…   
  
Benjamin was a simple otter who lived both by himself and off the land, he awoke to a promising day, it had stopped snowing during the night and the sun was out, a perfect day to check his nets, he whistled happily as he headed out the door towards the stream by his home which was a branch off of the main river that flowed not too far from there. Picking up the end of the net which net which was tied to a tree, he started pulling it in "hmm.." he thought out loud to himself "seems a lot 'eavier today...must've caught a bunch of the buggers..." and continued to pull in the net, gasping, he nearly dropped the net with sock as he saw what was in there...the the body of a torn and worn mousemaid, tangled in the net along with the fish and shrimp. After carefully pulling the net onto the bank, Ben gently untangled the mouse maid's unconscious body from the net lifting her gently into his arms as he carried her back to his cabin.  
  
*****  
  
When Mariel awoke, she was lying on an old, worn out couch, she looked around, do find Ben hovering over her, putting a wet piece of cloth on her forehead as he mended her cuts, bruises and wounds. Mariel immediately tried to sit up, her head throbbing in pain, Ben merely pushed her back down to a lying position "easy there, jest relax matey, ye're safe" Mariel looked up at the otter and spoke, only managing a low, husky whisper "where am I?" Ben continued to wrap her arm as he spoke "ye're about a quarter of a day's march from the Great south stream, ye'll need to say here for a bit to recover" Mariel simply nodded, closing her eyes again. Letting her mind wander, her thoughts hovered around that of Dandin, hoping fervently that wherever he was, that he'd stay safe, she yawned and allowed herself to fall asleep as Ben dressed her wounds.  
  
  
Dandin did not sleep, he spent the whole night awake worrying, blaming himself for not looking after her, he cursed his bad temper as he once again tried to sleep, this time he succeeded. A thick mist covered his dream, Martin the warrior stepped out from the inner most part of the mist, Martin spoke, his voice low and urging "Dandin, listen to me, and listen well..." Dandin nodded   
"Dandin, you must find your heart's desire, do not let her out of your sight. Where a snake begins, find thy desire, go now, turn thou, due, find the son of my right hand and you will find thy desire..."   
  
Martin's figure slowly disappeared into the mist, leaving Dandin dreaming peacefully well into the noontide hours.  
  
AN: hmmm...I little shorter than I expected, though it turned out nicely...oh yeah, I almost forgot...I do not own Mariel, Dandin, Mosflower woods and the great south stream, Brian Jacques does...Ben's mine though...  
  
*Hint* Son of my right hand, is somthing translated from Hebrew */Hint* 


	3. Lost and found

Lost and Found  
  
Mariel rested her head against the living room window in Ben's house, she pulled her knees up to her chest as she watched the snow fall outside, it had been nearly a month since Ben had found her half frozen body. He had treated her wounds and taught her about farm life as her wounds healed. On the outside she was her old self again, smiling, laughing, and goofing around, but on the inside she still hurt, her heart craved for something, something she could not have. Dandin. She sighed softly, her mind wandering, quickly, she blinked away her tears, She had decided to say with the hermit-otter throughout the winter, keeping him company. As she saw it, there was no sense in wandering around the woodland and getting more lost than she already was, a tear ran silently down her cheek, she quickly brushed it away, only to have more replacing it when she realized she may never see Dandin again. Hearing footsteps behind her, she quickly scrubbed at her eyes and face to hide the fact that she was crying, she sniffed slightly, turning to the beast behind her. "Ben, do you ever think I'll see him again?" she almost instantly stiffened, why was she acting so weak? Dandin was just her friend, a friend she missed a great deal. Ben put a comforting paw on the mouse maid's shoulder patting it gently "only time will tell young'un, then we shall see..."  
  
*******  
  
It wasn't until early spring when Dandin stumbled across Ben's cabin, Ben looked up from his garden, watching Dandin's approach before calling out to him "Ahoy there traveler! What can I do for ye?" Dandin's head jerked toward Ben "I'm looking for a place to spend the night, do you know where I could find a place like that?" Ben chuckled as he stuck out his paw "then ye're in the right place mate, ye can spend the night here. Oh by t'way, I'm Benjamin, Ben for short, and you are?" Dandin shook the otter's paw heartily " The name's Dandin"  
  
"ahhh, so ye're the one young Mariel is waiting for..." Dandin dropped his haversack "s-she's here? Now??" Ben laughed at Dandin's eagerness "aye young'un, though not right now, she's gone to bring in the net for today." He shook his head in amazement as Dandin was once again sidetracked on watching the woodland fringe for his companion's approach, Ben went back to tending his garden, muttering to himself "two beasts, best friends, completely faithful to each other, though thick and thin, yet they're just friends..." he shrugged "...go figure." A cry from Dandin caused him to look up, only to see him running full speed toward Mariel.  
  
Dandin pounced on Mariel, knocking her to the ground in a tight hug, the two companions hugged and wrestled around on the ground, both extremely happy to see the other alive and well, Dandin pinned Mariel to the ground, looking down at her "Mariel, I'm so sorry for snapping at you like that. When you didn't show up that night-By the seasons, I've been so worried about you" Dandin frantically searched her blue-green, looking for some sign of forgiveness "I-I-thought you where dead...I-I-" Mariel merely smiled, hugging him tightly, without another thought on the manner, she sat up slightly, kissing him softly. Dandin's eyes widened at the sudden display of affection from his friend, willingly, he returned the kiss, supporting himself above her. Slowly, Dandin broke the kiss, once again, he looked at her, entwining his free paw with one of hers, he smiled lopsidedly, finishing what he was about to say before "-love you..." Mariel laughed gleefully "....and I you Dandin." She hugged Dandin again before squirming out from under him, Dandin stood, helping Mariel to her feet, she grinned and picked up the net "thanks" Dandin readily returned the grin "no prob."   
  
Together the two mice made their way back to the otter's cabin, paw in paw, their hearts singing with joy, glad that their devotion and affection to each other no longer had to be hidden from each other, because truly, love, friendship and kindness can be taken for granted, for truly, You never know what you had, until you lose it...  
  
  
  
  
  
Author's notes: hmmm....turned out pretty good, whatcha guys think? Love it? Like it? Hate it? Wanna condemn it to hell? Well I wanna know...  
  
This is like a first draft, I have tons of ways on how to end it in my head...want more for the story so there can be a sequel? Do you want a sequel? Do you want it set up with a Prologue and Epilogue? Do you want them to marry and have kids or something like that? Let me know! I wanna know!! I need to know!!!   



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